


I've got your back, if you've got mine

by SheWritesDirty



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Blood, Enemies to Friends, M/M, Mentions of Abuse (Neil), Monster Slaying, Two boys patching eachother up, Violence, slight gore, with some pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:41:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26780815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWritesDirty/pseuds/SheWritesDirty
Summary: Billy just wants to find Max and take her home, before he ends up in a whole world of trouble.Gets a lotmorethan just trouble,  when he pulls up to the Harrington place and finds the doors wide open... and all the lights out.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 16
Kudos: 256





	I've got your back, if you've got mine

**Author's Note:**

> So I guess this is a season 3 where demodogs are just roaming around in wild packs. I honestly just wanted an excuse to write Billy and Steve mashing up some monster brains side by side

Billy didn’t like Steve Harrington, didn’t like his stupid preppy shirts, the way he acted like he was _above_ it all… and his fluffy- _perfect_ hair. 

Didn’t like his big, empty house in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere. Didn’t like wondering if his sister was in there, alone with a bunch of boys. She was _supposed_ to be at the Wheeler’s, properly supervised and playing some nerdy game which- Billy had cut her off, four seconds into her explanation of it.

‘Cause he didn’t care.

But when he’d showed up to pick her up, she wasn’t there… and Mrs. Wheeler said Steve’s name, like everything was cool. 

_‘Oh, they’re probably with Steve!’_

Said it like she wasn’t worried, like Steve was a trustworthy guy. But Billy didn’t trust him for _shit_ , heard too many stories from Tommy.

So he showed up at the Harrington place, BMW parked out in the driveway, the entire house pitch black - eerie as shit.

He went around to the back of the Camaro, dug a tire iron out of the trunk… slammed it shut and started towards the house. The front door was open, just a crack. Billy pushed it wide with the toe of his boot, slow.

It was silent, _dark_. The only light in the place was the moonlight streaming in through the windows, shining along the back wall of the living room and up the stairs leading to the second floor. Billy quickly took in details, a balcony overhanging the living room, a doorway off to the side- through which he could make out tile floors and counters. The kitchen, a huge set of sliding glass doors.

He could see the pool from here, as he stepped into the center of the living room - the backyard lit up from under water pool lights. He realized one of the glass doors was wide open… it sent a little chill down the back of his spine.

Paused when he heard a wet sound under foot. Glanced down to realize he’d stepped in... a dark, greasy puddle of _something_ \- soaked into the otherwise pristine, cream colored carpet. He followed the trail of it with his eyes, leading up stairs.

Billy tightened his grip on the tire iron, quietly started up the stairs… wincing a little when one of them creaked under his weight. He was tense, more alert than he’d ever been… some small thing in the back of his mind keeping him from calling out. 

Something telling him to keep quiet.

He ran a hand up the banister to steady himself, taking the steps one at a time… it was even darker up here, his eyes trying desperately to adjust to see anything in the shadows. There was a hall lined with closed doors… and down at the very end, slowly coming into his field of view as he crested the stairs… was a light.

A crack, from under a door, soft yellow glow spreading out in a thin line over the floor. There were pictures all over the walls, of Harrington and his parents, Billy barely even looked at them… caught the slightest glimpse out of the corner of his eyes as he kept them trained on the doorway at the end of the hall.

Something kept him from flicking the switch in the hall, from flooding the upstairs with light. Just moved smoothly through the darkness, his own breathing loud in his head. He reached the door, hand slowly reaching out and grabbing the handle… turning and pushing open and…

“Hargrove?” 

Harrington was on the floor, that cursed bat resting on his thighs… he was covered in more of that black shit... _blood_ , too. Had a gash on his cheek, caked with dried blood and- and even more of it on his shirt, staining through from the other side.

He looked woozy, staring up at Billy like he wasn’t entirely sure if this was real or not.

“I told them to run- they’re fine, made sure they had time to get away.” He was saying, as Billy just crowded into the bathroom and kicked Steve’s long, stretched out legs out of his way.

“The fuck happened to you?” Billy hissed, crouching down and grabbing him by the shirt. Steve just winced, and Billy poked at his stomach- looking for the wound, Steve shoved his hand away.

“The door-” Steve started to say, and then Billy heard something behind them. A sound coming from the hall, and Steve _froze_ \- nails digging into Billy’s arm where he’d suddenly grabbed on.

It sounded like some kind of sick _animal_ , and Billy was up fast- turning around and brandishing his tire iron.

A clicking, guttural noise… in the beam of light flooding out from the bathroom Billy could see something creeping into the hallway, on all fours like a dog. Except… not _quite_ like any fuckin’ dog Billy’d ever seen. For one- it didn’t have a face, and he started thinking about creepy, unexplained laboratories in the middle of nowhere and toxic chemical dumps.

The kind of shit his classmates at school joked about, the kid that went missing then came back- even though they’d found his _body_ in the lake. 

Weird shit that Billy kind of figured was some kind of hazing ritual… like, scare the city kid with some backwoods nightmare ghost stories.

He wasn’t so sure, now.

“Billy…” Steve said, used his fuckin’ _name_. Like now was the time to change things up, with whatever the fuck stalking towards them… making that _sound_ , making the hair on Billy’s arms stand up straight.

It stopped, cocked its head to the side and… it was almost cute. Then its face split open, bloomed like a horrible flower with a billion needle-like teeth. A blood curdling screech echoing into the hall, right before it charged at them.

And Billy acted on adrenaline- _instinct_. Planted his feet and swung hard, tire iron connecting with the things gaping maw just as it lunged for him. Those sharp teeth grazed his knuckles, but the thing went down... made a pained chortling sound as it scrambled to get its feet back under itself- claws scraping the tile floor.

Steve was shuffling away - backing into the bathtub and grabbing his bat as if he was gonna be _any_ fuckin’ help. Billy had seen him in a fight and knew better than to expect much, especially after he’d been bleeding out for who-the-hell _knew_ how long.

That _thing_ was back up on its feet - and Billy was ready, stepped between Steve and it... swung his tire iron around in his hand, got the impression the thing was watching… considering. Like maybe it knew better than to get hit twice.

It lunged again, and Billy swung - slipped on the blood Steve had graciously left all over the floor. Managed to land only a glancing blow on the thing, and it's teeth sunk into his arm… a _blinding_ pain shot through him.

He swore, hissed in agony and lost thought for a second - tire iron falling out of his grip and hitting the tile floor with a clank. The fucked up dog-thing clawed at Billy’s stomach, but he managed to shove it out of range, thankful that it was still latched onto his arm.

Billy smashed it’s head against the edge of Harrington’s fancy marble countertops, hoping that might loosen its grip.

“Take it!” Steve was saying, and Billy didn’t even bother looking at what ‘it’ was- reached back with his good arm and took whatever Steve was offering, pulled it back and realized it was the bat. He brought it down hard on the thing gnawing on his arm.

The sound it made was horrible- a gurgling, earsplitting cry… it didn’t let go, and Billy hit it again, bashed it over and over until the teeth released from his arm, the screeching dying down to a pathetic wail. And Billy just figured he’d make sure, stood over it and delivered another five blows to the thing. 

Practically pulverized its face… or lack of one. Splattered Harrington’s fancy bathroom with black, _rank_ smelling monster gore. Stood gasping as the adrenaline left him, as the fear and survival instinct seeped out of him, replaced with exhaustion and _pain_.

Billy fell backwards on his ass, nearly sat on Steve’s leg - except he pulled it out of the way just in time.

“What the _fuck_ \- is going on?” Billy huffed, snatching a towel from the bar near his head and wrapping it around his arm with a pained grunt.

“Hold on- you gotta _clean_ that, man.” Steve was saying, scrambling over Billy’s legs and throwing open the set of cabinets under his sink… pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Then he was straddling Billy’s lap- and Billy was too exhausted to push him away…

To tell him not to get so goddamn _close_.

Let Steve tug the towel away, unscrew the bottle of alcohol and dump it all over his arm. “FUCK that shit hurts- Harrington!” Billy hissed out, snatching the bottle away from him and throwing it behind them, into the bathtub. 

“ _Nice_ , we could have used the rest of that.” Steve said, rolling his eyes and diving over Billy to try and rescue the bottle - salvage what he could.

“The. Fuck. Is. Going. On.” Billy just repeated, grabbed Steve’s shirt and pulled him down… made him look at Billy, wouldn’t let him try and avoid it.

“Uh… okay, it's a really long story.” Steve started… staring into Billy's eyes, like he was _transfixed_ or something. “And I wanna tell you but… we don't have time.”

Billy just groaned, let his head fall back and thunk against the bathtub… paused for a moment before growling out “...Where’s Max?”

* * *

Steve still looked worse for wear, but he was putting on a pretty good front… leading Billy into the woods behind his house. He had a walkie in one hand and that bat in his other, had shoved a flashlight into Billy’s hand and told him to keep it ‘trained ahead’.

He kept trying to call the kids on the walkie, getting only static in return.

“Can’t believe you let them go alone.” Billy was growling, eyes frantically flicking about the woods… fully ready for another one of those _things_ to jump out at them.

“Seriously? It was that, or have them stuck in the house with a couple of pissed off demodogs!” Steve bit back, calling for that Dustin kid one more time on the walkie before making a frustrated sound.

“You _seriously_ call them that…” Billy muttered, before really cluing in on what Steve had said. “Two of ‘em? How do you know the second didn’t-” He started to accuse, before Steve cut him off.

“‘Cause, I _got_ the other one.” Steve said, voice stiff… shoulders even stiffer. “I’m not fucking useless.” he said, and Billy kind of had a hard time believing that.

Because Steve just gave off that _vibe_ , like he wasn’t great in a crisis. Like he was used to getting things his way, and didn’t know what to do when they went wrong... he certainly wasn't good in a fight. Billy heard all about how the weirdo Byers kid had whooped his ass. 

Got to see how bad he was _first hand_ , last year.

So yeah, _sue_ him if he thought Steve was a bit of a push over. “Whatever.” He ground out, just wanted to find the kids - find _Max_ \- and get the fuck out of here. He knew he was already dead when he got home, that Neil was gonna have his ass so bad for this… it was nearly midnight, and he was gonna look like shit… 

And Max was probably gonna stink of fear.

This whole night was just going _perfectly_.

He was gonna lose it, nerves and anger and frustration all building up… Steve fiddling with that stupid walkie, the two of them stumbling around in the woods- all because Steve lost a bunch of middle schoolers.

Couldn’t keep them safe...couldn’t be fuckin’ _trusted_ -

And then the walkie crackled, and a voice came through… “St...eve? Is… you? O..ver.” The signal was weak, kept cutting out- but Steve perked up instantly, looked so damn _hopeful_.

“Holy shit- Dustin?! Are you okay man? What’s happening? Over.” Steve quickly rambled into the walkie, stopping so suddenly in his tracks that Billy almost walked right into him.

“No...t lookin’... good man… we’re oka…y... there’s more… o..utside. Over.” Billy thought he could make out the sounds of arguing behind the static and the main voice coming through, it all just made everything harder to understand.

“Ask them where the _fuck_ they are!” Billy snarled over Steve’s shoulder, still scanning the treeline for anything.

“Hey guys- where… where are you? Over.” Steve asked, and Billy wondered if he always did what he was told like that.

“We’re… the cabin... Hop... missing…” A new voice came in, it sounded shaky… scared.

“Ask them if they have Max-” Billy growled behind Steve’s ear, shoving into him.

“Yeah, yeah! Relax man I’m getting-” Steve started to say, only to get cut off by Billy shoving him again and grabbing the walkie.

“You shit-stains better have Max or you’ll be answering to me.” Billy paused for a second after yelling into the walkie speaker, “...Over.” He finished, and Steve just stared at him with a baffled expression. Stupid mouth hanging open, all pink and… and-

“...Ri..ght here... assh...ole.” Maxes voice came in and Billy nearly _cried_ in relief. 

“You bitch- you know how fucking _dead_ you are?” Billy said into the walkie instead, couldn’t quite allow himself to show that relief outwardly.

“Ooo... I'm rea..lly scared.” Max sassed back, her sarcastic tone obvious even through all the static. And that was when the signal decided to give out completely, so Billy couldn’t fucking _reply_. He just ended up spitting insults into the void, and Steve was grabbing his arm and dragging him back towards the house.

“C’mon, man - we’ll get there faster in my car.”

“ _Your_ car…? You’re fuckin’ _dreaming_ , Harrington.” Billy sniped, no way they were taking that piece of shit BMW.

* * *

Steve looked like he was fighting sleep, lids heavy as he sat in the passenger side. Warm heat from the fans blowing out on him, the soft drone of Billy’s ‘Ride The Lightning’ cassette turned way down… chaotic guitars closer to white noise now.

Billy almost _wanted_ him to sleep, to drift off and let Billy handle this… wake up when it was all fine and dandy. Steve wasn’t supposed to deal with shit like this, he was supposed to be spoiled and rich and have an easy life… all the things Billy _thought_ he was.

But maybe there was more to Steve than how he seemed on the outside.

Billy on the other hand, was wide awake. Eyes pinned on the road ahead of them - when he wasn’t sneaking a glance over at Steve - knuckles bleached white by his grip on the wheel, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

It was there to help calm him, but he just felt more and more antsy as the clock on his dash ticked up.

Steve kept rattling off vague directions, ‘ _Turn left here, down this street_ ’ and ‘ _I know that doesn’t look like a road but it is_.’

Billy regret insisting they take his own car the second they turned onto a dirt road, gritting his teeth with every rattling bump the Camaro drove over.

“The hell is this fuckin’ place…?” Billy muttered, the rumble of the car seeming to pull Steve out of his drowsy state.

“Almost there.” Steve just said, sitting stiff in his chair now- the bat gripped tight in his hands. Billy had that tire iron resting on his thigh… a solid reminder that he was sorely under equipped for this.

“Glove box, open it.” Billy ordered, and Steve gave him a confused look… before leaning forward and popping it open.

“What exactly am I-” Steve started to ask, the glow of the light from inside flooding into his footwell.

“Knife.” Billy just said simply, and Steve shot him a raised brow… before pulling out the switchblade that Billy kept stashed there. “It’s for emergencies.” He explained, tired of Steve looking at him like that.

“Well, this definitely counts.” Steve muttered, handing the knife over… setting it gingerly in Billy’s outstretched palm - like he was afraid it was gonna pop open and stab him if he wasn’t careful.

Billy just kept it in his hand, pressed it against the steering wheel as he drove. The weight of it brought a familiar comfort, it was the knife he used to sleep with under his pillow at night… before Susan.

“It’s right here- oh, _shit_ …” Steve’s voice trailed off as they pulled up to the cabin, Billy’s headlights illuminating the front of the building… and several more of those dog _things_ skulking around..

Billy just watched for a second, the Camaro rolling to a stop… idling in the middle of the road. “Hold on.” He growled out, and Steve’s head whipped around to stare at Billy.

“Wait- hold on to _what_?!” He asked desperately, but Billy was already laying on the gas- revving the engine hard and shifting gears. Drove forward fast, headlights singling out one monster- lighting up it’s faceless head right as it turned and let out an otherworldly shriek.

“Nononono- BILLY!” the sound of Steve panicking next to him, drowned out by the squeal of tires and-

THUNK.

The solid impact of them hitting something _alive_ , black goo splattering over the windshield in an impressive arc.

Billy was out of the car fast with his weapons. He’d clocked at least two more, watched them scatter as he’d driven straight for the third one. Steve was stumbling out after him, slamming his car door and brandishing his bat. Billy had half a mind to yell at him for shutting the door so hard, but he figured it probably didn’t matter when he was already gonna be popping dents out of his hood…

Digging monster guts out of his grill.

No sign of the other two, but Billy could _hear_ them… his headlights lighting up the front of the cabin, making it harder to see into the darkness. He should have flipped them off, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.

Didn’t wanna turn his back on the treeline now, not with Steve out of the car - out in the open. He had his tire iron in one hand and the switchblade resting comfortably in his pocket, hoped he never got close enough to use it. Steve rounded the front of the Camaro… got back to back with Billy, shoulder blades pressed together as they swung in circles.

Trying to keep an eye on every angle at once.

“Maybe they ran off…” Steve said cautiously, when the sound of that freakish chortling faded away.

“You ever been that lucky?” Billy grit out, tightening his grip on his weapon. He didn’t know about Harrington, but _he_ certainly never had.

“Not lately…” Steve admitted, and he _leaned_ his weight into Billy’s back and... he needed to _focus_ , and Steve was making that difficult. Billy could feel Steve’s body heat through their layers of clothes… feel how hard Steve’s _heart_ was beating, the vibration filling that little hollow spot in Billy’s chest and making him nervous.

They heard that sound again, and tensed… it was closer somehow… and something else, an almost metallic sound that Billy couldn’t quite place. They blinked into the tree line and- Steve suddenly stilled. Looked straight up onto the cabin roof above them and made a strangled sound.

“ _Shit._ ”

Billy looked up too, just in time to spot one monster creeping towards them from the tin roof- it’s mouth flying open as soon as it knew it was spotted. And then it jumped down at them, and they had to separate if they didn’t wanna take a mouth full of teeth to the face.

Steve split to the left and Billy to the right, and the thing fell between them - snapping at air.

“Billy!” Steve shouted a warning, but it was too late. He’d backed up, tried to put some distance between him and that thing but- hadn’t noticed the felled tree next to him, went ass over feet backwards when the back of his calves came into contact with the stump.

Landed _hard_ , ass aching… and maybe a little bit of bruised pride, too. Didn’t have a whole lot of time to worry about that though - because the second monster was out of the woods and on him in a flash. He brought up the tire iron to block its bites- watched in horror as those teeth gouged marks into solid metal.

The second one went for Steve, and he could just catch the guy landing a pretty solid looking blow on it from where he was sprawled over the ground.

“Nice shot!” He cheered, wincing at the monster drooling above him… got some of it in his _mouth_ , fuckin’ tasted awful.

“WOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!” Steve yelled back, voice pitching embarrassingly high as he lined up another hit.

Billy just grumbled, planted a boot firmly under the rib cage of the thing above him and _shoved_. Managed to send it sprawling backwards- gave him enough time to get up and get ready for another attack.

Someone opened the door to the cabin, and Steve and Billy both yelled simultaneously for them to ‘get back inside’ - it was a miracle when they actually listened.

The monster dove for Billy, and he dodged out of the way- managed to land a swing, savored the way it screeched in pain. And he felt good, like they could _handle_ this… one on one was a fair fight.

And things were about to be made in their favor, when Steve landed a finishing blow on his own monster- that bat cracking its head open like a watermelon. And Billy was just a little bit jealous, wanted one of those bats for _himself_.

Except, celebrating early seemed like a curse… because just as Steve spun around like he was gonna come help Billy finish his own adversary off… the woods danced with shadows- two… _three_ more of those things stalking into the clearing around the cabin.

Billy grit his teeth and turned back to the one in front of him- figured if he finished this quick it’d be three on two instead of four. It was wounded, leaking black goo from a cut across its shoulder.

It came at Billy with the meticulous planning of a creature who’d been hurt before… picking its path carefully, looking for a weak spot. But Billy’s weak spot was eight paces to the _left_ of him, and he whipped around to stare as three demodogs descended upon Steve Harrington.

“ _Fuck-_ ” Billy spit out, just narrowly dodging the lunge his own opponent gave. Brought his tire iron down, a bone crunching CRACK filling the night air. He didn’t even wait to see if it was dead, ran hard and fast towards Steve- flung his iron around one of the monster's necks and used it to pull the thing off of him, sent it rolling backwards.

One of them was chewing on Steve’s bat, and the other had him by the leg. Billy swung in a downward arc and took out the one biting Steve, winced at the way both of them howled in pain… Steve’s voice mixing with the haunting sound of the monster.

It released Steve’s leg and turned on Billy instead, diving for him. He was ready for the one in front, dodging out of the way - but he wasn’t ready for the one behind him. He went down, tire iron flying out of his hand and skidding across the grass.

Rolled over just in time to avoid teeth in the back of his neck, took it to the shoulder instead- his own grunts of pain drowned out by the sound of Steve’s bat hitting something. Billy fished in his pocket for the switchblade, got it out with shaking hands and plunged it into the belly of the thing above him… pulled up and split it end to end. 

Foul blackened guts spilled out over him, and he sputtered and shoved the stilling corpse off him. Got to his hands and knees just in time to see the final monster running for Steve, his injured leg keeping him down.

Steve blocked it with his bat, and Billy got up on shaky knees… hurried over to where Steve was struggling, slid his arm between them and cut the things throat - grabbed it by the scruff and pulled it up and away from a terrified Steve. He was breathing hard, eyes wide - covered in the same rotten blood that Billy was.

Billy tossed the corpse aside, held out a hand. Dripping with both natural and unnatural blood… his and _theirs_. And Steve stared for a moment, before taking it… Billy pulled him up, got him steady on his feet.

“The kids…” Steve said, blinking at Billy like he was still trying to come to terms with their survival.

“Let’s go.” Billy agreed, voice coming out rough.

* * *

“It was _his_ fault!”

Everyone...

“No- you’re _crazy_ -”

Just...

“ _You_ were the one who-”

“SHUT UP!” Billy howled, the entire room of bickering middle schoolers startling and going silent all at once. Blissful fuckin’ _silence_. 

“Okay just… one at a time- _please_.” Steve said, fingers pressed against his forehead as he made a pained expression.

Steve's leg was wrapped up in Billy’s shirt. The first thing he did when they’d gotten inside, was check on Max, that she was all in one piece.The second thing he’d done was throw his jacket off and hand his shirt over to Steve. Max just rolled her eyes at that, and Billy was annoyed at that _knowing_ look she gave him.

Just because she caught him with a boy _one_ time in California… she didn’t know _shit_.

“We were doing like you said Steve- we were gonna go straight to my moms.” One kid piped up, the quiet one - the one everyone said died… said he was a freak. 

“Then those demodogs found us and-” Another kid piped up, curly hair, stupid hat… even _stupider_ face.

“So we had to go off course, and went straight for Hopper’s cabin instead.” The kid who liked making googly eyes at Max joined in, and Billy shot a death glare in his direction. He stood up to it, fired one right back… tough little fucker.

“But they weren't here so…” The final kid said, looking way too depressed considering he didn’t have any chunks missing out of him.

“So you hid out until you could get us on the walkie… good.” Steve sighed out, leaning all his weight onto his good leg.

“Lemme get this straight… this shit’s been going on since last year, and no one thought to fuckin’ _tell_ me?” Billy growled, he hated being out of the loop… hated thinking that Max _had_ been in danger this whole time.

All of them just stared at him, like they'd forgotten he was even here. The shame over what he’d done to Steve hit him hard, he hated himself just a little bit more for it. Made _up_ for it by driving home five screaming idiots, and one half alive boy.

Let them off one by one, following the shitty directions they’d shout from the backseat- until finally it was just him, Max and Steve. Billy made to drive past his house to drop Steve off, but Max was up and over the center console- howling to be let out and grabbing for the gear stick.

“The fuck is your problem? Cut it out you gremlin!” Billy shouted, pulling the car over before she made him drive into the curb.

“Billy can’t go home.” Max said, voice stiff- ignoring him and addressing Steve instead. He just blinked a little, bleary- had been falling asleep in the passenger side, woken by the sudden commotion.

“Max-” Billy started to warn, only to get cut off.

“No!” She yelled, shoving at his arm- which was painful as hell… seeing as how he’d had some monster using his shoulder for a chew toy earlier. “You can’t go home, you’re staying with Steve.”

Which was just _ridiculous_. Steve was looking between them like he didn't get it, completely baffled. “You uh- you can stay.” he said, which wasn’t the fucking point. 

As if Billy cared if he had permission or not.

“It’ll just be worse.” Billy said, speaking only to Max- Steve didn’t need to know what was going on.

“I can work on it.” She said, stubborn. Reminded him of _himself_ , the little shit. 

But she was wrong, she couldn’t work on it. She couldn't make things better, or easier… couldn’t soften the hell coming for him from Neil. But Billy sighed and gave in just the same, nodded his head. She squealed and lept into him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. Billy just snarled in pain, yelled at her to get the fuck off him.

And then she was gone, jumping out of the back seat and running up to the house… and Billy kind of wanted to go in… make sure she’d be alright. Sat there for way too long, long enough for Steve to reach over and grab his arm… give it a gentle squeeze.

“C’mon Billy, I’m exhausted.” Steve said, firing this dopey smile over at him… one that had his chest feeling painfully tight.

So Billy drove to Steve’s house, pulled into the drive and frowned at the front door that they’d left wide open in their haste to get out and find the kids. He got out of the Camaro quick, hurried around to the other side to help Steve out- slung his arm around the back of his neck and pulled him to the door.

Got them inside, and Steve to a couch - before going back to close the front door again… locked it, went to close the sliding doors in the kitchen too. “Got any more doors I should be worried about?” Billy asked when he came back into the living room.

“Nope, gott’em.” Steve replied, looking so tired… laying back and closing his eyes. His leg looked fucked though, and even though Billy wanted to just sit down right next to him and fall asleep… he had shit to do.

Went methodically through Steve’s house, knife gripped firmly in his hand as he went. Checked every single room until he was satisfied nothing was waiting in the shadows for them… stopped off in the upstairs bathroom, fished the bottle of rubbing alcohol out of the tub. 

It’d landed on its side,and it still had maybe a third of a bottle remaining. The rest sadly down the drain.

Made his way back downstairs with that, some towels, and any bandages he could find under the sink. Dumped them all into Steve’s lap, before sitting next to him and manhandling him until he had Steve’s leg thrown up over his own.

“Wow…” Steve muttered, staring at all the stuff in his lap. 

“Don’t say anything.” Billy grumbled, using his switchblade to cut Steve’s pant leg away. It was stiff with blood, and the wound underneath looked swollen and angry. Billy dumped half the alcohol onto a towel and pushed it into the wound.

Winced at the sound Steve made, a drawn out wail- kind of pathetic, really.

“Warn a guy!” Steve shouted, tears in the corner of his eyes.

“Don’t be a baby.” Billy said, rolling his eyes. Pulled back the towel and used it to wipe up any grime around the wound… bandaged Steve’s leg up, making sure to keep a good amount of pressure on it.

“You’re good at this…” Steve said, a little wonder in his voice. Like he couldn’t imagine Billy being good at _anything_ caring.

Billy just grunted, shucked his jacket off and went to work on his own shoulder- only for Steve to lean forward and slap his hand away… snatched the towel and used it to wipe carefully at Billy’s skin.

Steve’s fingers were soft, touching lightly at Billy’s skin as he worked… the sting of alcohol hitting his cuts mixing with the electric sparks Steve’s hands left every time they touched him. Billy groaned, let his head fall back against the couch cushions… his throat working as he swallowed.

“Sorry- that hurt?” Steve asked, sounded so damn concerned… Billy couldn’t fuckin’ handle it.

“No.” He got out, voice rough. Should have shut up right then and there, but his brain wasn’t working anymore- and the words “Feels good.” slipped out. Billy cocked his head, got a good look at Steve’s reaction… big, saucer-like Bambi eyes staring at him.

They both went quiet as Steve worked, the air thick with tension- and Billy was regretting his choice, wondering if Steve would just let him wander outside after this and sleep in the Camaro instead.

“Okay… guess I owe you an explanation.” Steve finally said, breaking the strained silence that had infected the space between them.

“Guess you do.” Billy agreed, voice rough… waited.

Steve shifted on the sofa and scooted closer… and Billy kind of wanted to push back- get away from him. Couldn’t stand Steve being that close, wanted to… to-

“So last year, when we fought… one of those things was in the refrigerator.” Steve said, and Billy just blinked… _anger_ , he was so angry all of a sudden. Wanted to grab Steve and shake him- so mad that Steve just let him…. Let him act like a total fucking _idiot_ , not knowing what the hell was going on. 

“You should have told me.” He grit out, fists clenching at his side.

“Oh sure, bet that would have gone real well… bet you'd have listened to me, too.” Steve said, rolling his eyes.

“Woulda... if you showed me that…” Billy said, looking away- staring down at his hands clenched in his lap.

“Yeah… okay, was kinda busy getting my face bashed in.” Steve said softly, and Billy looked up then… eyes met, and Steve didn’t look mad. He should have been, he _definitely_ shouldn’t have been looking at Billy with understanding like that…

Then he was pulling back, and Billy swayed forward- had to snap himself out of it. Steve grabbed some gauze and wrapped Billy’s shoulder, tended to whatever other minor wounds he had before sighing and leaning back against the couch.

“So tired.” Steve muttered, his eyelids drooping as if to prove the point.

“You want the couch or…?” Billy started to ask, feeling like Steve should probably take his own bed.

“Oh.” Steve said slowly, turning to look at Billy. Big stupid doe eyes, staring Billy down. “You’re not gonna stay…?” he asked.

And fuck… because- that was… Steve wanted him to _stay_. On the couch, with him.

“Uh… I can- I can do that.” Billy said, hesitating only for a second… Steve just _smiled_. And when Billy lay back on the couch and set his head on the armrest, Steve followed right behind, crawled over and set his head in the center of Billy’s chest. 

Billy could feel his heart pounding - which meant Steve could, too.

“I hate sleeping alone.” Steve admitted after a moment of listening to Billy lose his shit.

“Think a lotta people wouldn’t mind helping you out with that.” Billy said, before he could stop himself. 

“What about you?” Steve asked… his voice sounded loud in the silent night around them.

“It’s all I think about, pretty boy.” Billy said, let the truth out- let a big breath out with it, too. Like he’d been holding it back for so fucking long, it was just a relief to finally say it.

“Me too.” Steve replied, quiet… words whispered into Billy’s chest like it was a secret.

_Me too, me too, me too._

Sounded like music, played over and over again in Billy’s head- until he heard the soft sounds of sleep from Steve… closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around him.

Held on tight, until sleep came for him too.

**Author's Note:**

> IT’S-A SPOOKY TIMEE… I may have a few fics planned, they may be way filthier than this one (figured I’d start tame)


End file.
